Home
by ilovenascar
Summary: As Jenny’s life hangs in the balance, Gibbs tries to find justice. Jibbs, TonyOther
1. Chapter 1

Fic Title: Home

Author: I Love NASCAR

Fandom: NCIS

Pairing: Jibbs, Tony/Other

Date: May 20, 2008

Feedback: Please

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: The only character I own in this is Shelby. If I owned any of the others, there'd be no need for this fic.

Summary: As Jenny's life hangs in the balance, Gibbs tries to find justice.

Author's Notes: Although I agree that if Jenny had to die, it was the best way for her to go, I'm making a few 'adjustments' to tonight's episode.

* * *

Jethro Gibbs lay on the edge of the bed, his hand touching Jen's. He knew he had a lot to be grateful for, the fact that Jenny had made it through so many hours of surgery, that Shelby and Ducky were giving her around-the-clock medical care at his house, where she was more comfortable, where she was just Jen and not the director. Still, when he looked at her, when he thought of the still present factor of losing her, he didn't feel lucky, but heartbroken.

He heard a knock on the open door and heard his best friend whispering to his sister during the changing of the guard. He didn't open his eyes until Ducky was gone and then watched Shelby quietly as she checked Jenny over, making sure that everything was okay and she was as comfortable as possible. Then, and only then, did she whisper to her brother, "Good morning."

"How is she?" He lived in fear every morning of waking up and finding Jenny was gone.

"She's good, Jethro." She paused and then said the words she hated most. "But she's not awake."

He nodded, grateful that she still believed it was possible for Jenny to wake up. The doctors hadn't had much hope after the surgery that she would ever wake up, which was why he had been glad when they'd moved her home. He knew what Shelby thought, but not Ducky, because Abby had told him, when Jen was still in the hospital, that positive thoughts and words would help. He wasn't taking chances.

"She will be soon." He wanted to believe that with everything he had that the words he was saying were true. He'd lost Shannon and Kelly; he didn't know what he would do without Jen. His brain kept trying to convince him otherwise, kept hearing the doctors say there was too much damage, kept seeing all the blood she'd lost, but for him, there was no other alternative. Jenny had to wake up.

"Jethro…" Shelby looked at the woman she considered her sister, her best friend, and knew what she was to her brother, how lost Jethro had been without her. She looked at the stubble on her brother's cheeks; he hadn't shaved in days. It was a chore just to convince him to take a shower and she didn't remember the last time she'd seen him eat. "You have to get up, get dressed. You have to get out of here for a little while."

He remembered Jenny telling him the same thing when he'd sat beside his sister's bed after her heart surgery the year before. If anyone knew what it took to beat the odds, it would be the two women in the room with him. He trusted his sister inexplicably, especially with Jenny. Still, something stopped him from setting foot outside the room. "What if…what if I leave and she wakes up?"

"Then I'll call you. You know I will. The second her eyes open." She paused. "And she'll be awake when you get here." She sighed. "Jethro, this isn't good for you. Jenny wouldn't want this. You know she wouldn't want this."

He nodded, almost hearing Jenny scolding him, and smiled at the thought. "Okay."

"I'll leave you two alone so you can get dressed." She kissed into his gray hair and left the room.

Gibbs turned his attention back to Jenny, finally letting go of her hand, stroking her cheek, having second thoughts. It was true that Jen wouldn't want him to stay locked up in this room forever, but he had finally learned the meaning of 'delegate' and hadn't left her side since arriving at the hospital while she was in surgery. He heard the lines of Jenny's favorite songs repeating in the background of his mind.

_And I feel just like I'm living someone else's life. It's like I just stepped outside, when everything was going right. And I know just why you could not come along with me, 'cause this was not your dream, but you always believed in me._

Sometimes he felt like he was dying, couldn't breathe, was losing touch, going crazy. She had almost lost her life, could still lose her life, protecting him. So much time and words wasted in fighting and broken promises. He vowed that if she woke up, it'd be different. He loved her too much to lose her, not again. He remembered waking up that morning in Paris to find a note on her pillow. He'd felt something like this back then, but not to the extent where he felt he was dying too.

He changed from his NCIS t-shirt and sweats to a pair of jeans and a more appropriate work shirt. He looked at the gown they'd changed Jenny into after her last sponge bath and then went out into the living room where Shelby was waiting. "I thought about changing her clothes after her bath tonight. Maybe."

Shelby nodded. "Ducky said the others have been wanting to visit her." There were flowers and teddy bears from the agents, as well as other friends and acquaintances, in Jenny's room, but no one had seen her since she left the hospital except the three of them.

Gibbs nodded. "She'd like that. Jenny'd like that. And she wouldn't want them to see her in her gown." She always looked her best, in jeans or in one of the suits she wore to work. "Shelby…"

"I swear I'll call you. Every hour on the hour if you want."

He didn't respond. "Do not set foot out of that door without an agent with you. Do you understand me?" He had his tough, no-nonsense Marine tone. "I don't care if the house is on fire."

She nodded, although she didn't really understand, just chalked it up to his overprotective nature, especially given the circumstances with Jenny. "I'll sit in there and read to her. Maybe turn on some music."

Gibbs nodded again, feeling a little vulnerable, something he hated with a passion. He kissed her cheek. "I love you."

She nodded, squeezing his hand gently before releasing it. "I know. I love you too." She hugged him and watched him go before returning to Jenny's room, putting the Michael Buble cd on in the background, the same one that Jenny had worn out at least once.

Jenny was quite aware of Gibbs' every move, just like when she was awake. She heard Shelby try to convince him to leave the room and prayed he would, not because she didn't want him with her, but because he needed to be apart from her for a little while. It wasn't good for him to be with her twenty-four hours a day, keeping everyone but Shelby and Ducky away. He needed their team and she knew that they needed him as well. More than anything, she wanted to wake up, wanted to feel him against her skin, wanted to get the time back she'd wasted by making so many stupid mistakes. Everyone assumed was privileged, the only child of two political families, the first female director in the agency, everything she ever wanted right there at her fingertips…or was it? Her five-point plan had gotten her nowhere; all she wanted was Gibbs, just as she had in Paris. She had never really moved on.

_Another aeroplane, another sunny place, I'm lucky I know, but I want to go home. I've got to go home. Let me go home. I'm just too far from where you are, I've got to come home. I've had my run, baby I'm done, I want to come home._

* * *

Tony DiNozzo sat alone in Jenny's office, not sure what he was looking for. He wanted to find the one clue that made everything make sense. Why had he and Ziva let Jenny order them away? They should have trailed her somehow, if not bodily than by a tracking device. They'd left it too damned late and now Jenny and Gibbs were both paying the price. He'd tried to assure Ziva that it wasn't their fault, it would have happened anyway, but he knew the truth. Except for Gibbs, he was the senior member of the team. He never should have allowed this to happen.

His hand hit an envelope in Jenny's desk and drew it out, seeing the neat writing of the one word: Jethro. He started to put it back and then decided that he would give it to Ducky to take to Gibbs that night. It might be something that could bring comfort to his boss since nothing else really had.

"It's not in here." The familiar gravely voice of Mike Franks came from the doorway.

"Nothing about this makes sense." Tony paused. "When Gibbs was hurt…I don't know, it hurt, bad, but this just doesn't seem right. It doesn't seem real." Although Jenny was one of the three strongest women he knew, it was times like this or when Gibbs had been hurt that she seemed vulnerable, more like Jenny than The Director.

"The men that did this to her…" Franks paused and admitted what he and Gibbs had told no one else. "They're coming after Gibbs next."

"What can I do?" Tony asked, finally looking up, not hesitating in his office, afraid that they'd lose Gibbs as well, afraid Gibbs would do something stupid, not thinking about the risks he was taking, but about what had happened to Jenny.

Franks only looked at the younger NCIS agent, but Tony nodded, grabbing the envelope and a picture he'd found in Jenny's desk, leaving without a word.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Tony and Franks met Gibbs at a deserted wooded area not far from his house. Tony hadn't seen his boss in days and was not prepared for how bad he looked. He still hadn't shaved, so the wild look he'd gotten in Mexico was returning. It was more than that though. Even after Kate's death, Gibbs had known what to do, but there was a look in his mentor's eyes now that told how lost Gibbs was, how sad, almost like he was falling to pieces with no one to stop him. The outside was as tough and rugged as it ever was, but Gibbs was wearing his heart on his sleeve and it was taking some pretty bad shots.

"Boss."

Gibbs looked up at Tony at the word and then at Franks. "You didn't tell him?"

"Probie, you need to wait until Jenny's awake before you make that call," Franks told Gibbs, his eyes as concerned as Tony's.

Gibbs shook his head, but didn't explain and Tony knew better than to ask. "Why'd you bring him?"

Franks was quiet, giving Tony a chance to explain why he'd come. For a split second, he thought about just turning around and going to sit in the car, not liking this part of his friend. Gibbs was in the zone that Tony had learned long ago to be dangerous, the one that meant he didn't care if he lived or died, as long as he got what he wanted. Tony knew the people that hurt Jenny were never going to stand trial or even see the inside of a federal building, not that anyone really wanted them to. Tony knew he had abandoned Jenny when she needed him and knew this was the only thing that he could do to try to make it up to her. "I want to help Jenny."

Gibbs paused, considering this for a moment, being eerily quiet before he nodded. "What did you tell him?"

"That after they got Jenny, they're after you," Franks answered.

"They haven't gotten her yet." It was why he'd requested an NCIS agent be stationed at the house, whether he was there or not, wanting to feel that his girls were protected.

Tony studied his boss. "Do you think they'll go to the house?" He wanted to hear that nothing else would happen to Jenny, that Shelby was safe, but deep in his heart, he didn't think so and knew no one else really did either. Gibbs' only response was a look. "Do you want me to stay with them?" Gibbs hesitated, too long to Tony's already guilty mind, thinking that Gibbs blamed him for what happened to Jenny as well. Gibbs finally nodded his response. "I found these in Jenny's desk." He handed the envelope and picture over to his boss and left.

Franks watched Tony walk away before sitting next to Gibbs. "He reminds me of you, probie."

He smiled. "That's what Jen says too. She says that's why I get so aggravated with him, I see myself in him and never cut myself any slack…"

"He's a good agent. He blames himself for Jenny."

Gibbs looked away and back at him. "I assigned him and Ziva for a reason. I trusted them. They knew Jenny well enough to know if she was upset as they said; they never should have left her."

"They shouldn't have…or you shouldn't have?" Franks finally asked him.

Gibbs looked over at his friend. "That obvious?" He paused. "I should have gone to the funeral with her. I was mad at her…she was keeping secrets. I would have gotten over being mad; we always do. It shouldn't have happened...not to Jenny." He would trade places with her in a heartbeat. "All I know is…it shouldn't have happened. I wasted the last two years, the last ten."

Franks paused, for just a moment. "She's going to wake up." He paused again. "You can't go through this half-assed. It'll get you in that bed right next to her…or worse."

He looked at the picture Tony had brought him, holding it in his hand. Ducky had taken it ten years ago, when they were on the boat on the English Channel. It was early morning, the sun was behind them, and Jenny was curled next to him on deck, her head on his shoulder, his arms around her protectively, both asleep. Back then he'd really believed nothing bad could happen. They'd never formally married, but she'd always felt like his wife, like getting a second chance at love, another soul mate. He hadn't had pain like this since Shannon and Kelly were killed and he wondered if he would lose Jenny as well.

"Probie." Gibbs looked over at Franks. "Are you ready?" Gibbs nodded slowly, putting the letter and picture in the glove compartment, starting to tell his friend what information Ziva had been able to pass along.

* * *

Tony dismissed the NCIS agent at the doorway, knowing the young man could be used better at headquarters since they were so short-handed. He opened the door, letting himself in, seeing that nothing really changed in his boss's house, even under these circumstances. He smelled the coffee and poured himself a cup, debating whether or not to go back to the bedrooms where he knew Jenny and Shelby would be or to sit and wait in the living room when he heard the click of a gun, putting his hands up, turning around, scaring both himself and Shelby to death as she lowered the gun.

"Damn it, Tony. Don't you know better than to…?" She didn't finish the sentence before she started to cry, looking tired, stressed, and not a little scared.

"Sorry," he said, pulling her into a hug. "I'm sorry, Shelby. I didn't think about it." He wiped the tears away from her cheeks. "I'm sorry." He handed her the cup of coffee and she took a drink.

She shook her head. "No, I'm sorry. I…I guess my nerves are shot." She paused. "With Jenny..." She couldn't even say the words. "And Jethro being so damned secretive, putting that guard outside the door, Franks coming in and out at all hours…They think whoever shot Jenny's going to try again…don't they?"

He wanted to lie, but couldn't, not to her. "Yeah. I'm not going to let that happen though. Not…"

She cocked her head to the side slightly. "Not what?"

He stopped, looking into her blue eyes. "Do you need to be with her?" He was unsure how things were set up.

"She'll be okay for a few moments." Shelby studied him, having never seen him this torn up inside before, even after Jeanne's departure. "What's wrong?" He sat down on the couch with her and began to talk.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Gibbs looked up at Franks, pacing, going over and over the information they'd received. "It can't be right. This has to be…He's been dead for ten years."

Franks looked at his protégé. "What did I teach you about leaving loose ends?"

"There were no loose ends." He paused, thinking back. "Jen was supposed to handle it." He grew quiet again, thinking. "Right before she left Paris."

"The reason we don't have female agents…"

Gibbs interrupted his friend. "She was a great agent. One of the best I've ever worked with. Besides, this isn't doing anything. This bastard's still out there."

Franks watched as Gibbs finally stood at a standstill. "What do you want to do?"

"I'll pull some strings, talk to some contacts. He's somewhere in Washington and I'm going to find him." 'Or die trying' floated in the air, unsaid.

Going outside, he opened the letter Tony had given him in Jenny's handwriting, wishing he hadn't only seconds later. He had written a letter like it in Paris and hadn't updated it since. Part of it was arrangements for her memorial service and her will, leaving most of everything she had to him, not that he would want any of it without her. Jenny had added a more personal touch then he'd been able to, a goodbye, all the things unsaid, words that not only touched his heart, but broke it. He remembered the first day he'd met her, in the hallway outside Ducky's lab, throwing up over her first autopsy. He smiled slightly at the recollection of how sick she'd been, how he'd held her long red hair back, wiping her face with a paper towel, ignoring it when she got sick on his shoes. He saw a couple walking together, arms around each other, deep in love, and reminisced of walking the streets of Europe with her, how she'd loved the history, the time they spent together just the two of them.

_Another summer day has come and gone away in Paris and Rome. I want to go home. Maybe surrounded by a million people I still feel all alone. I just want to go home. Oh, I miss you, you know, and I've been keeping all the letters that I wrote to you, each one a line or two, I'm fine baby how are you. Well, I would send them but I know that it's just not enough. The words were cold and flat and you deserve more than that._

He shrugged off the memories, knowing there was a time, a place, for everything. He had to survive this, had to make sure Jen did as well. They had more than just a past, had a present and future. Maybe she would take some time and they could go back to Paris…or to Mexico. He really didn't care, as long as he got his second chance.

* * *

Shelby studied Tony, having listened to every word he said. "It's not your fault," she finally, quietly, replied.

He stared at her, not able to believe what she said, not able to let the crushing guilt go. "Of course it is."

"I've known Jenny for a decade. No one stops her from doing whatever it is she wants to do. If she wanted to shake her detail, she would. It would not matter if it was her bodyguard or you and Ziva or even Jethro. It would not matter if you'd followed her or not. And even if you were right there with her when she was shot, it wouldn't have made a difference. She was just bleeding too much, lost too much blood too fast."

Tony nodded, trying to hide the tears in his eyes, having learned a long time ago that boys didn't cry. "Is Gibbs right?" He paused. "Does she have a chance of waking up?"

"I believe people always have a chance, Tony. Right up until they're dead and even then Ducky can tell you some stories…They didn't think Jethro would wake up when he was in the coma the first time. They weren't sure he would the last time." She paused, closing her eyes and then openign them again. "Jenny's just tired…she's just sleeping."

He studied her, watching her bite her lower lip. "Can I see her?"

Shelby paused, but nodded, knowing it would be the best thing in the world for him and, under the circumstances, she was sure Jenny wouldn't mind. "Come." She held her hand out for him to take, closing her hand around him as he did so, walking with him to the bedroom.

Tony watched Jenny lay there, unable to move, her eyes closed, looking halfway dead. Silently tears crept down his cheeks as they had during Kate's death. After what Jenny had put him through with Jeanne and La Grenuoille, he'd all but hated her. He'd give anything if she'd wake up, both for her sake and for Gibbs'. Shelby rubbed his back, trying to comfort him. "How are you holding up?" Tony asked, looking at Shelby. If he didn't know her as well as he did, he would think that she was unaffected by Jenny's injury, but that wasn't his Shelby, not at all.

She shook her head, looking at him, a glimmer of tears in her blue eyes. "If I'm not able to do my job for her, for them, then Ducky would have to be here twenty-four/seven. Jethro's barely hanging on as it is. If I fall apart, he'll have no one left. She'd want someone to be with him, to protect him, take care of him…I can be a sister or a doctor. Not both." She'd gone through this once before, when her sister-in-law and niece were murdered, had taken full responsibility for her brother for a year, until Franks had taken over.

He kissed her cheek, unable to see Jenny that way anymore, wanting to give Shelby some time if she needed. "I'll be outside." She touched her cheek, the imprint of the gentle kiss burned in her memory, nodding as he walked outside.

_Another winter day has come and gone away in either Paris or Rome. And I want to go home. I miss you, you know, let me go home. I've had my run, baby, I'm done, I want to go home. Let me go home. It'll be all right, I'll be home tonight…I'm coming back home._

Jenny's green eyes opened, looking around, finally focusing on Shelby's face. "Jethro," she whispered, not loud enough to be heard. "Jethro."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Gibbs had a bad gut feeling, worse than just the past couple of days, one of the worst he'd ever experienced. He dialed his home, but there was no answer. He dialed Tony's cell phone, no answer again. He turned pale, looking at Franks. "No one's answering."

"Maybe the girls are asleep." Like Ducky and Jenny, Franks had 'adopted' Shelby as a little sister long ago. He noticed how worried she was, how tired, and doubted she was sleeping anymore than her brother.

"Tony too?" Gibbs shook his head. "I've got to go home."

* * *

Shelby had her blue eyes closed, holding Jenny's hand, her friend resting once again, when she heard the all-too familiar click of a gun. Opening her eyes, she started to jump up, startled, more than a little afraid to see the unfamiliar face in the room, but was pushed roughly back into the chair.

"Who are you?" She asked, her voice quiet, not wanting to wake Jenny up, not wanting to frighten her.

"Does it matter?" The unknown redhead asked in a decisively French accent.

Shelby shook her head, knowing it didn't. "Where's Tony?"

"The guard dog at the door? He won't be bothering us." Shelby saw the blood on the gun and became even more frightened. "Call Gibbs. Tell him he needs to come."

Shelby shook her head, not willing to be a setup for her brother. "No." She knew it wouldn't be received well, but didn't have another answer.

The woman pointed her gun at Jenny. "Call him." Shelby moved quickly, trying to knock the gun out of the other woman's hand, finding herself getting thrown against the wall for her trouble. "Once more. Call him." Shelby put her hand up to the back of her head, seeing double for a few moments before seeing Jenny's green eyes open, looking worried. Shelby shook her head slightly, reaching for the phone, when the woman saw Jenny's eyes were open. "I really must be losing my step." She put the gun on Jenny again.

Jenny closed her eyes, bracing herself, unable to fight back, never feeling so helpless in her life. She was used to being able to talk her way out of any situation she couldn't shoot herself out of, but this time she could do neither. She knew in France there would be hell to pay one day, but she had never expected that day to come so soon.

She heard scuffling in the background and a pain-filled scream, then nothing. She opened her eyes to see Jethro and the redhead holding guns on each other, before they both fired.

* * *

Ducky arrived at the house, seeing Franks with Tony and Shelby, going back to the bedroom to check on Jenny first, sending Gibbs out of the room, under protests. He stood there in the hallway for a little while, watching Shelby doctor Tony's head, watching Tony stroke Shelby's bruised cheek, taking care of each other.

"DiNozzo," Gibbs' voice must have seemed a little harsher than expected, because Tony jumped up, hurrying to Gibbs' side.

"Yes, boss."

Gibbs studied the dried blood coming from his friend's head. "Thank you."

Tony studied Gibbs, unaccustomed to those words coming from him. "Boss?"

"I know you tried to take care of the girls." He had obviously paid the price for such actions as well. "And for the record, Jenny getting hurt…it wasn't your fault…or Ziva's. It was mine. I should have been the one to go with her." He knew he'd never forgive himself for not doing so.

"Shelby said she woke up." Gibbs nodded. "I'm glad."

Gibbs could only nod again, looking back at his little sister and then again at Tony. "Why don't you see Shelby gets home all right? After Ducky looks over the both of you?"

Tony slowly nodded, finally getting that Gibbs was giving not permission, but his blessing, something that had been important to both him and Shelby, something they'd never thought they'd receive. "Yes, boss."

* * *

Jenny moaned softly, opening her eyes to feel Gibbs lying nearby, moving to lie in his open arms, feeling him stroke her hair, kiss her head. "Jen," he whispered softly, almost unheard.

"Are you okay?"

He closed his eyes and then opened them again. "Yeah. I'm fine, baby." He took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "I'm fine now." He felt like he had finally come back to life. "And Ducky says you're doing well."

"Did he go home?" She could hear voices in the other room.

Gibbs nodded. "He's looking after Tony and Shelby right now. He'll come back in before he leaves."

She turned her head to look at him. "What happened?"

"Tony was pistol whipped…Shelby beat the hell out of Cox." He smiled, more than a little proud of his baby sister, although she'd taken more than a few licks of her own.

"Cox…" She finally put a name to the face and closed her eyes, opening them again. "I wanted to tell you…"

He shook his head, kissing her head again. "It doesn't matter, Jen. It's over. It's over." He closed his eyes, taking in his scent, holding her, talking until she fell asleep. No words were said about their relationship, but it didn't really matter. They'd never fallen out of love with each other, never really been apart, never left Paris at all.


End file.
